Christmas 17th Century Style at Moseley Old Hall

On Friday we'd intended to visit a National Trust property over in the neighbouring county of  Warwickshire but shortly before leaving home we heard that the motorway was at a standstill so we changed our plans and headed to Moseley Old Hall instead, an eight mile hop from our front door. Known as The Home That Saved A King, this compact Elizabethan farmhouse on the outskirts of Wolverhampton famously offered shelter to King Charles II after he fled Cromwell's troops following defeat at The Battle of Worcester in 1651.

King Charles II by Gerard Von Hondhorst (c.1650)

I was mad about Charles II as a child, I even kept a scrapbook with pictures of him and stories I'd copied out of library books. I told you I was strange.

Moseley Old Hall was built in around 1600 and was originally half-timbered but after falling into disrepair, the building was modernised in 1870 in the Victorian fashion (ie., brutally) with the Elizabethan windows replaced and the outer walls cladded in brick although, mercifully, the Tudor chimneys remained intact. During the time the manor house offered shelter to the fleeing monarch, it was owned by the Roman Catholic Whitgreave family who were wealthy wool merchants and remained occupied by the same family until 1925.

The weather was atrocious with torrential rain cascading from leaden skies and the miserably damp kind of cold that seeps in through your pores and chills you to the bone but we put a brave face on it and wandered the grounds regardless, encountering only a one other visitor, obviously as mad as us.

We arrived at the front door of Moseley Old Hall just as the tour was about to start. Previously we'd enjoyed one that concentrated on the English Civil War and the dashing young king Charles' escape from Cromwell's New Model Army, this time the subject was - don't laugh, those of you who know our feelings towards 25th December - A 17th Century Christmas.

How amazing do Lesley, our guide and her husband, Moseley Old Hall's gardener look? All handmade by Lesley, a self-taught hobby sewer!

We started in the kitchen where we learnt that, back in the 17th Century, the wealthy merchant class would celebrate Christmas from midnight on 24th December until the Epiphany (Twelfth Night on 5th January). Advent was a time for fasting so, after the family had returned from Midnight Mass, they'd tuck into Mince Pie (the rectangular dish in the foreground of the photo above). Made from minced lamb and numerous ingredients including cinnamon, cloves, raisins and star anise, a total of 13 items representing Jesus and his twelve apostles. This was the forerunner to the mince pies we know today. One slice would be eaten every day throughout the twelve days of Xmas and speaking whilst consuming your daily slice of pie was believed to bring bad luck.  

The white muslin bag contains a Christmas pudding but not one as we know it today. Like the early mince pie, this too contained minced meat and spices and after boiling in mulled wine would be served on the same platter as the traditional Christmas meal of a boned goose, stuffed with a boned duck, stuffed with a boned chicken. On 26th December, St Stephen's Day, all the leftovers would be parceled up and given to the poor, known as The Dole (a term still used today).

After visiting the bedroom where Charles II laid his weary head. Here we learnt that the ruling classes celebrated Christmas from 1st December until Candlemas in early February, drinking, dancing and merrymaking for eight weeks whilst accepting gifts from courtiers keen to elevate their status within court. Talk about The Divine Right of Kings.

The bedroom was where the lady of the house would store her valuable spices, locked away from the servants. The cook would have to personally request cloves, peppercorns and ginger before she started her preparations.

We popped up to the attic where the altar was hidden as, back in the 17th Century, the practice of Catholicism was illegal.  Although widely believed that Cromwell banned Christmas, it was in fact Parliament. In 1644 it was declared that 'with the more solemn humiliation because it may call to remembrance our sins, and the sins of our forefathers, who have turned this feast, pretending the memory of Christ, into an extreme forgetfulness of him, by giving liberty to carnal and sensual delights', and a law was passed to ban the festivities. Until the Reformation of 1660, carol singing, feasting and the eating of mince pies remained illegal in England. 

Mummers were popular in 17th Century England, they'd wear masks and costumes and go door-to-door, entertaining households by performing plays and dances. The performers' identities were kept secret and to prevent their voices giving them away, the only sound they uttered would be a hum, hence the term "mummers."

Back in the dining hall we admired the table laid for the Xmas feast. In previous years the centrepiece was a boar's head, taken from a beast slaughtered in the surrounding forest, but the replica went missing during the Pandemic.

The sweetmeats were marchpane (known in modern times as marzipan). A marchpane peacock used to take pride of place on the dining room table but has, like the boar's head, vanished since lockdown!

As had been tradition since Pagan times, 17th Century households were decorated with greenery - Christmas trees weren't introduced until the Victorian era - mistletoe to protect homes from witches and bring good luck, rosemary for remembrance and for fending off malevolent spirits, holly for everlasting life and ivy to keep away the plague. Families would go out in search of a Yule Log, a huge chunk of wood large enough to burn throughout the Twelve Days of Christmas, the woodlands and forests would be trawled for something suitable and once found, the children would sit astride it whilst it was dragged back home. The Yule Log would be set ablaze after Midnight Mass on Xmas Eve, lit from a remnant of wood from the previous year. It was considered bad luck if the flame went out before Twelfth night. 

The Yule Log was already ablaze at Moseley Old Hall. The downside of houses with no electricity - they're too dim for photos.

Throughout the twelve days of Christmas the fun and feasting continued but on Twelfth Night after the decorations were taken down, it was time for the biggest party of the season. The Christmas cake was cut and shared and the recipient discovering a dried pea in their slice was declared Lord of Misrule and made responsible for the night's merrymaking.

The Lord of Misrule, The King Drinks by David Teniers the Younger (1610 - 1690)

One of the party tricks on Twelfth Night would be a pastry case with a hollow bottom which would be stuffed with live creatures. When the pie was sliced open the birds and frogs encased within would escape and cause chaos. This is what the nursery rhyme, Sing a Song of Sixpence, is believed to be based on.

Twelfth Night was celebrated with Wassailing when the lord of the manor would greet the assembled multitude with the toast "Waes Hael" meaning be well. The wassail would usually consist of warm wine, cider or ale flavoured with spices and honey and passed in a bowl from one person to the next. Merry goers would traditionally move from one house to the next with an empty bowl, singing and wishing people well. 

Despite our lack of interest in Christmas, I loved hearing about past traditions, several of which played a part in the Christmases of my childhood. My dad would light the Yule Log on Xmas Day where it would smoulder in the grate for days, mince pies were baked on Xmas Eve then eaten on Xmas Day and daily throughout the festive period (although, my Grandma's contained lard and suet so, as a vegetarian, I never partook) and greenery was brought into the house on Xmas Eve and taken down on the eve of Twelfth Night.

Back at home I did as I've done since I was old enough to wield a pair of secateurs, and brought in the greenery from the garden and festooned the lounge.

I also fashioned a pentangle from branches brought down by the high winds earlier in the week and threaded ivy around it - hopefully it'll keep the plague from our door over the festive season.

We're off to the pub with the Dead Relatives Society shortly.....see you on the other side.

Seasons Greetings!

Much love to you all, Jon and Vix